Executive Medical Director, Clinical Development Lead - Oncology

Description

For candidates seeking to be located at our Stevenage site, this role will temporarily be based at Stevenage. However, the Company plans to relocate its offices to Cambridge, UK. The location of this role will therefore subsequently change to Cambridge, UK in accordance with timelines to be set by the Company. The relocation is currently proposed to take effect by early 2029.

Business Introduction
At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting-edge technology to transform people’s lives. GSK fosters a culture ambitious for patients, accountable for impact, and committed to doing the right thing, making sure that we focus our efforts on accelerating significant assets that meet patients’ needs and have the highest probability of success. We’re uniting science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together.
Find out more:
Our approach to R&D

Position Summary

Cancer is unrelenting, but so are we. At GSK, we are committed to transforming outcomes for people with cancer through innovative science, bold ambition, and strong partnerships across the healthcare ecosystem. We focus our science where it can matter most — advancing care in cancers with high unmet need, grounded in a deep understanding of disease biology and deliberate scientific choices that connect discovery to meaningful impact in the real world.

The Clinical Development Lead (CDL) – Oncology operates at the asset level as the enterprise clinical strategy leader, accountable for defining the clinical strategy, scientific narrative, and decision framework across the asset lifecycle. The CDL serves as a full strategic partner within the Medicine Development Team (MDT) core quad, positioning Clinical Development at the centre of product strategy, governance, and investment decisions.

The CDL owns the clinical roadmap and serves as the recognised clinical authority and visible leader for the asset’s strategic vision, shaping how clinical strategy, scientific insight, development innovation, and decision velocity are understood and experienced across the organisation, representing Clinical Development in both internal and external settings. The CDL is accountable for the strategic direction and clinical positioning of the asset, with operational study-level delivery led by Senior Scientists within the programme. This role is critical to enabling a more dynamic, data-driven, and technology-enabled model of clinical development, increasing speed, precision, and decision quality.

The position is open to candidates from either a medical or non-medical background. MD, PharmD, PhD, or equivalent advanced degree is required; an MD or equivalent clinical doctorate is preferred. Depth of oncology clinical development expertise and enterprise-level leadership experience are what matter most.
 

In This Role You Will:

•    Define and own the clinical strategy, scientific narrative, integrated benefit–risk position, and decision framework across the asset, ensuring a coherent and differentiated clinical position throughout the lifecycle
•    Accountable for strategic outcomes across the asset, with study-level delivery, including design, execution, and data generation, led by Senior Scientists and programme teams within the CDL’s strategic direction
•    Serve as the senior clinical strategy leader on the MDT core quad, acting as a full strategic partner to the Medicine Development Leader (MDL) and representing Clinical Development in portfolio, governance, and investment decisions
•    Lead or co-lead governance and investment presentations to senior management, translating clinical evidence into clear strategic recommendations for portfolio prioritisation and progression
•    Serve as the recognised clinical authority and visible leader for the asset, ensuring its clinical vision, scientific identity, and development trajectory are clearly understood and advanced across the organisation
•    Drive an integrated, end-in-mind approach to development, ensuring that target selection, development pathways, regulatory positioning, and commercial readiness are considered as a connected whole
•    Act as the default Clinical Development representative for Health Authority interactions, advisory boards, steering committees, IDMCs, and alliance partnerships
•    Leverage AI-enabled insights, advanced analytics, and emerging data platforms to inform asset-level strategic decisions and drive competitive advantage in development speed and decision quality
•    Lead, develop, and mentor clinical development talent, contributing to talent calibration, succession planning, and capability building aligned to evolving development models

Responsibilities

This role will provide YOU the opportunity to lead key activities to progress YOUR career. These responsibilities include some of the following:

Enterprise Clinical Strategy and Governance
•    Serve as the senior clinical strategy leader on the MDT core quad, representing the voice of Clinical Development in portfolio, governance, and investment decisions
•    Own the clinical and scientific narrative for the asset, acting as the recognised clinical authority whose leadership is synonymous with the asset’s clinical vision and development trajectory
•    Lead or co-lead governance and investment discussions, translating clinical evidence and benefit–risk into strategic recommendations that inform portfolio prioritisation and resource allocation
•    Drive an integrated, end-in-mind approach to clinical strategy, moving beyond sequential development to ensure alignment across scientific, regulatory, and commercial considerations
•    Proactively engage enterprise stakeholders — including Medical Affairs, Integrated Evidence, Commercial, and Regulatory — to integrate perspectives, resolve trade-offs, and align on product strategy
•    Define the asset-level evidence-generation strategy, including how clinical data is prioritised and integrated across development, regulatory, and lifecycle decisions
•    Operate across the full asset lifecycle, integrating insights across studies and functions to ensure a coherent and differentiated clinical position

Clinical Development Plan and Benefit–Risk Leadership
•    Accountable for the strategic integrity and clinical direction of the Clinical Development Plan (CDP), ensuring it reflects asset-level strategy and is delivered through programme teams
•    Own the integrated benefit–risk framework, ensuring alignment between clinical data, safety insights, and strategic decision-making
•    Define the strategic direction and decision frameworks guiding study design and development approaches across the asset
•    Provide strategic direction to Senior Scientists on the content and scientific quality of CDP-associated deliverables, ensuring execution aligns with asset-level clinical intent
•    Leverage AI-enabled insights, advanced analytics, and emerging data platforms to inform asset-level strategic decisions, enhance the precision of programme direction, and strengthen the evidence base for governance and portfolio decisions
•    Ensure alignment between clinical strategy and programme-level execution, maintaining clarity of clinical intent across teams

Scientific Leadership and External Engagement
•    Serve as the default Clinical Development representative for Health Authority interactions, including scientific advice, regulatory meetings, and responses to queries
•    Provide strategic oversight and final clinical accountability for scientific communications derived from clinical data, including publications, congress presentations, and advisory materials
•    Represent Clinical Development across external engagements, including advisory boards, steering committees, IDMCs, and alliance partnerships
•    Synthesise integrated clinical insights and evidence trends to shape asset-level strategic direction and inform governance decisions
•    Shape and influence clinical development standards, governance practices, and decision-making frameworks across Oncology Clinical Development, ensuring consistency and quality at the programme level

People Leadership and Capability Development
•    Develop and mentor clinical development talent within the asset programme, ensuring the right people are in the right roles and that team capabilities are aligned with current and future development models
•    Contribute to talent calibration, succession planning, and resourcing decisions across the Oncology Clinical Development function
•    Set clear expectations for decision quality, accountability, and collaboration across the asset programme, empowering Senior Scientists and Clinical Matrix Teams to lead operational delivery within the CDL’s strategic direction
•    Champion a culture of innovation, integrated thinking, and continuous improvement, reinforcing the enterprise mindset and technology fluency required for the evolving R&D operating model

Why You?

Work Arrangement
This role is hybrid. You will be on-site at one of the posted locations at least two days per week. Remote work is available on other days.

Basic Qualifications:

We are seeking professionals with the following required skills and qualifications to help us achieve our goals:

•    Medical degree, PharmD, or PhD required 
•    Oncology clinical development experience in the pharmaceutical industry or relevant scientific, medical, or clinical experience.
•    Demonstrated experience operating at the asset, portfolio, or enterprise level, including governance and investment decision-making
•    In-depth knowledge of GCP, ICH, FDA, EMA, NICE, and relevant regulatory frameworks
•    Proven ability to lead and influence cross-functional teams in complex matrix environments
•    Strong understanding of clinical development, oncology therapeutic landscapes, and drug approval processes
•    Experience leveraging data, advanced analytics, or emerging technologies to inform clinical decision-making

Preferred Qualifications:

If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:

•    Medical degree or equivalent clinical doctorate preferred
•    Experience leading or co-leading Health Authority interactions
•    Board certification, eligibility, or substantive clinical experience in oncology
•    Strong executive presence and enterprise influencing capability
•    Experience translating clinical data into strategic decisions across development and lifecycle
•    Cross-functional business acumen across clinical, regulatory, commercial, and access domains

What we value
We act with transparency, respect and integrity. We welcome different perspectives and champion inclusion. Bring curiosity, humility and a clear focus on patients.

Apply now
If this role matches your experience and career goals, please apply. Tell us how your experience will drive clinical progress and how you want to grow with us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Skills

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us at UKRecruitment.Adjustments@gsk.com where you can also request a call.

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